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King
King & King (ISBN 1-58246-061-2) is a young children's book by Linda De Haan and Stern Nijland. It was originally written in Dutch ("Koning en Koning"), but later translated into English. Approximately 15,000 copies have been sold in the United States. There is a sequel, King & King & Family. It was published by Berkeley, California based Tricycle Press (the children's imprint of Ten Speed Press) in 2002; the hardcover retails for about US$10.00. Plot "On the tallest mountain above (a) town," a young prince still has not married, as is the custom in his kingdom. His mother, a grouchy Queen insists he must find a princess to marry. The prince tells his mom "Very well, Mother.... I must say, though, I've never cared much for princesses." His mother marches princess after princess through the castle, but they fail to interest the prince. After a while along comes princess Madaleine escorted by her brother Prince Lee, who causes the prince to exclaim, "What a wonderful prince!" The prince immediately falls in love with the prince, and they begin marriage preparations at once. The story ends with a kiss between the two kings. Controversy In some areas of the United States the book has been the subject of controversy. Some opponents claim that the book intends to indoctrinate children by failing to portray homosexuality in a negative light. There is also a lawsuit on the subject of sexual education. The teacher in question has said that reading the book was not intended as sex education but was appropriate in the context of a lesson being given on the subject of marriages. Massachusetts is the only state where same-sex marriages are legal. The teacher and the school board also claimed that there was no obligation, either before or after the reading, to inform the parents of the book having been read. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060427/us_nm/rights_gays_massachusetts_dc Lawsuit In 2006 Joseph and Robin Wirthlin and David and Tonia Parker filed a federal lawsuit against the school district of Estabrook Elementary School their second grader attends in Lexington, Massachusetts. They claim that using the book in school constituted sexual education without parental notification, which would be a violation of their civil rights and state law. Robin Wirthlin appeared on CNN, saying "We felt like seven years old is not appropriate to introduce homosexual themes." and "My problem is that this issue of romantic attraction between two men is being presented to my seven-year-old as wonderful, and good and the way things should be." http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/20/ltm.01.html Criticism Some critics have remarked negatively upon the book's illustrations, finding them unattractive and uninspired, The characters are really ugly, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/1582460612 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/1582460612. Others, however, have commented that the bright colors and fun nature of the artwork is appealing to children, The illustrations really shine; kids like the artwork, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/1582460612. External links * Gay.com Article * Sunday Morning Herald Article * World Net Daily Article * Boston Globe Article * Edge Boston Article * After Elton Article * LifeSite Article * GoodAsYou Article * Southern Digest Article * Surrey Leader Article * Bay Windows Article * Lexington Minuteman Article * Southern Digest Article * San Francisco Bay Times Article * News24.com Article Category:Children's books with LGBT themes